Tuesday, 6 January 2009

So it is a brand new year and I’m supposed to back here, blogging. But I’m not.

I am not blogging.

This is because I am struggling with the thorny issue of New Year's Resolutions.

I was all bullish around the 30th December,

‘No, I’m not making any this year, it’s a waste of time’.

Come January 1st I had a bit of a wobble. Well of course I should make a few, it is after all a means of improving myself, and I am most certainly in need of a bit of improvement.

Of course any resolutions that involve eating less, or eliminating fat forever from my diet, are pointless.

Resolutions that involve exercising more are good, especially if they involve some initial thereapeutic purchasing. I'm thinking new trousers for some rock climbing, or perhaps an arm strap for my Ipod to facilitate my running. You know the kind of thing. In fact, I'm probably due some new trainers, it's been a while since I bought the last pair...

Anyway, like I said, pondering over my resolutions. In addition to the ones above, I'm oscillating wildly between the ambitious,

‘Just be a much nicer person all the time’ through the

‘If you can’t say something positive, just don’t open your mouth’ (that’s possibly a sub-point of the first one) down to the more bite-sized,

‘Recycle the bottles on a hebdominal basis’.

It’s taking up quite a lot of head space, so I definitely am not blogging.

However, I felt I must just share something with you. I returned from the UK last week with another weapon in my allergy-fighting arsenal.

A part of the human genome that they missed?

A completely foolproof way to ensure you never ever have another allergic reaction to anything, ever again?

How very delighted I was to discover that not only are Jelly Tots free of nuts, dairy, wheat, gluten, gelatine and artificial colours, but they look extremely pretty indeed.

That’s it.

I hope that wasn’t too much of a let down for you, but I was very excited by the Jelly Tots because they meant I could give my littlest allergic one proper sweets. Not sugar-reduced, price-inflated, specialist order ones (and I do value those by the way), but proper, evil sweets.
That her sisters and brother wanted to eat as well. When our bags got lost at the airport (bless you Air France), and boredom kicked in, we were Jelly Tot-tastic, and life was good.

And when I got home to discover two blackened bananas in the fridge, I knew just what to do.
Not blog or try out a new recipe - durr, I’m wrestling with the New Year’s Resolutions, remember? - But re-hash an old recipe, ice it and add some jelly tots.

Then share it with you, to enhance your life, and buy me some time until I can post the next recipe.

So that’s it. Definitely not blogging, although possibly could be in a couple of weeks.

Hope you had a marvellous festive period, and can I just say to all those lovely people that have emailed me recently:

I have replied to every email I’ve received, but my email account is spammed and hijacked to the core and some dear friends are unable to receive my emails. I think I’ve been put on some black list which means you won’t receive my reply. Try checking your junk mail folder, I may have been put in there. And I love getting your very kind emails, thank-you. I think it’s safe to say that if no-one had emailed me or sent me the lovely pix you send me…I would probably have given up by now.

So there you go, it’s all your fault that I’m still here, wittering on.

Happy New Year,

Pigx

Banana buns with jelly tot adornment
These are, quite simply, ‘Did not see that coming Raisin Buns’ in another form. Instead of the raisins, you use 1 large banana, or 1 and a half medium bananas, mashed. How easy is that?

I’ve only made the egg free, dairy free with wheat flour version, but - going out on a limb here - I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with the egg free, dairy free, gluten free or the gluten free with egg versions. Keep up.

If you wish to make these buns, please click HERE, where I've added the necessary (very minor) adjustments to the recipe.

It's always a good time to make...

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‘I've been cooking your recipes for 2 years and you are my God, Guru, Oh Great One...down here in New Zealand we eat one of your recipes at least once a day.’Diane, New Zealand

"Thank you so much for this recipe. I'm a total baking novice (I had to buy everything, right down to measuring spoons and scales to make these), but I really wanted to be able to make something for my my egg/dairy-free daughter while she was home for Christmas. These came out so well when I was having a practise run that I actually took one in a tiny cake tin to Heathrow to meet her! I made them many times while she was here, including for Christmas breakfast, and when she was leaving I made them again to take back to the airport with us. They were like little beacons of love, with added chocolate!" Anne

Hi Pig! Just wanted to share that although we've had the fab news my boy can now eat cooked egg as an ingredient and I'm baking like a crazed Mary Berry on steroids, he still is adamant that CAKE OF SUCCESS is the best cake in the world!!!! So I wont be throwing away the golden syrup or linseeds too soon! Lucy, Wales xxxx

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'I made the bread rolls yesterday. They were fabulous. Is here an appropriate place to admit that I ate all six?'MommaloveUk

The great thing about your recipes is that they are designed for a busy mum. I can buy nearly all the ingredients at the supermarket and most of them seem pretty hard to get wrong. Your blog has saved me hours of frustration trying to adapt normal recipes, saved me tons of money in ingredients and saved my dog from type II diabetes I am sure :-) Anyway we are most grateful! Sam(via email)

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Reader Vicki Groth's husband while eating Pear Crumble. He is clearly a man with Good Taste.